The Wind Gardian
by leo0821
Summary: The wind is ever changing and never caged, it is said it is hard to get the wind to trust but once it dose it was a valuable allie. But what happened when the wind finally meets those it can trust and finds not only friends but family as well, and finds out that that family has a bunch of crazies in it as well. Que the madness and reborn planned fun. OC/Hibari
1. Chapter 1

The wind was blowing heavily this morning, as Reborn observed his student and his small family from a tree. They were strong and only getting stronger together and to top it off he was sure that he had found several other candidates for Tsuna's guardians, but there was still something missing. But he didn't know what yet, but like the heavy winds that told of the oncoming storm he had a feeling he wasn't going to need to wonder for long. With a smirk and a tip of his fedora he jumped from the tree and headed inside just as the first few drops of rain began to fall.

A figure stood outside the gates of the school with a smug smirk on her face the heavy winds whipping the loose choppy layered long black hair that was so dark it had blue and purple highlights, "The wind is strong today, I wonder of that's good or bad omen. Ah, Namimorie it has been so long, I wonder what has changed." The smirk turning into a condescending smiled she grabbed her things and headed inside for her first day.

"Student's to your seats we have a new transfer student, so give her your attention." The female homeroom teacher said as she motioned for the new student into the class. Tsuna wasn't paying much attention he was to worried about what his test score was going to be, until a sharp pain in his head made him actually pay attention, courtesy of Reborn.

"Hi, I'm Ren Alauda, I've just transferred here from Ireland and before that I was in Italy." Ren said with simple ease.

"Oh my you've been to a few places haven't you, what brought you to Japan, and where were you originally from?" The teacher asked.

Ren kept the easy aloof smile on her face as she answered, "I was born in Japan and I traveled the world with my father, he was an Archeologist, but he just recently passed away so I've come here to live with my grandmother."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, well I wish you the best now your seat will be over in the back corner by the window." Ren nodded her head and sat in her assigned seat, and listened to the chatter begin again as the teacher left the room to a study period. She let the smile drop from her face and observed the students in her class, and just like every other school she had been in they all seemed to turn to shades of grey in her eyes. With a sigh she looked out the window and watched with a sense of peace as the heavy winds played havoc with the limbs and leaves of the trees and pushed the darkening clouds ever closer to unleashing the summer rain.

She liked storms and overcast weather she also liked it when there was a bright blue sky and a light crisp breeze to keep any heat off, she hated the heat. It made her irritable and impatient and with her short temper and love for a fight it could cause problems. She glanced back around the room and listened to the inane dribble that some of the girls were talking about, like the latest fashions, and what boys looked good, of course she could appreciate a good looking guy as much as any girl but she didn't see a reason to gush about it. Her shoulders sagged and a sliver of sadness reflected in her silver grey eyes. This was to be her life from now on, no more traveling to dig sights and looking at ancient relics or mummies, or helping her father decode an ancient text. No more running from dangerous hostiles and wild animals or needing to defuse ancient booby traps to keep out grave robbers. Just normal boring everyday things that repeated themselves over and over again. The thought made her depressed.

"Umm, Alauda-san?" a hesitant high pitched male voice grabbed her attention.

"Yes, sorry what was your name?" Ren asked back nicely, the boy in front of her was short for someone his age with spiked brown hair and eyes.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, but everybody just calls me Tsuna." He replied.

"Or No Good Tsuna." A female with wavy dark hair and intelligent eyes came over to them followed by another female and two other males. "I'm Hana, and this sweet girl is Kyoko." She pointed to a smiling girl with chestnut hair and eyes.

"If you need anything or want a tour around the school then don't hesitate to ask." Kyoko said cheerily.

Ren smiled the girl had a sweet and innocent feel to her that made you instantly want to like her. It creped Ren out, but she still had to be polite and courteous even if she couldn't stand them, something her father had beaten into her head. "Thanks, I will. Actually do any of you know where the Reference Committee room is I still need to hand in my paperwork and get my uniform." Ren gestured to her attire of black pants and white dress shirt, she gave them all a confused look when they all tensed up at the mention of the committee. "Is something wrong?"

"It's better if you don't go there right away, you'll probably be beaten if you do." One of the unnamed males with short black hair and naive brown eyes said. "Ah sorry, I'm Yamamoto Takashie, and this grouch is Gokudera Hayato."

Ren politely said hello back to them and got an annoyed 'che' from Gokudera, "So why shouldn't I go right now?"

"B-because if you go right now than Hibari-san would kill you for not wearing the uniform." Tsuna said as a shudder went through his body.

"Is he really so unreasonable , I mean it's my first day and I don't have the uniform yet so how would I be able to where it. And who is Hibari?"

"Hibari Kyoya is the head of the disciplinary committee and really strong I've never seen anybody defeat him and I've never seen him be merciful to anyone that he thinks is disrupting the peace of the school." Hana said with a shiver. Ren listened to the group talk more about this Hibari person but the more they talked the more the guy began to interest her, and suddenly among those shades of grey there may be a bright spot of color, but of what color she didn't know yet.

So when the lunch bell sounded she completely ignored all the warnings the others had said and went to find this disciplinary head, of course not to fight just to turn in her papers and get the uniform. But a girl could hope. When Ren finally tracked down the committees room she found it completely empty and that disappointed her, not only had she not met this Hibari Kyoya, but even more she couldn't get her uniform or papers finalized. With a sigh she left the packet of papers on the desk in there, she glanced out the window and smiled a real smile at the furiousness of the wind, and without a second thought she ran to the nearest roof access.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as she left the safety of the building walls the wind lifted and lashed her hair crazily about her face, she smiled and enjoyed the feeling. Like the wind was ripping away any of her cares, the sadness of her father's passing the awkwardness at home with her grandmother and the strangeness of knowing she was going to be staying in one spot for so long. Ren gripped the chain link fence as she thought about that particular annoyance, she had never stayed in one place for longer than a year, and now it looked like she would be staying here for the rest of her school years. Her hand gripped the fence harder the pain from the metal biting into her hand and chasing away the pain in her heart as thoughts of her time with her father tried to overwhelm her. She had no memory of what happened that day and it left her with a never-ending sense of unease like there was something important that she was desperately trying to forget.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled to another presence and her quick reflexes had her ducking and jumping to the right landing in an awkward crouch. Where she had been standing just a second ago a glimmering rod of silver stood now.

"hum, you dodged that, but that still doesn't mean I won't bite you to death in the end." A guy said as he retracted his weapon, he was tall, had Ren by an inch or two, with short messy black hair and gleaming purple silver eyes. Ren stood straight and watched as this guy moved, there was no wasted movements, each one having a purpose, and each one could be as deadly as innocent. When she looked at him one word came to mind, predator. "Who are you, I haven't seen you here before?" he asked.

"I just transferred," She was about to say her name when a strip of red caught her eye, an armband that said discipline was on his left bicep, and she knew who he was now. "You must be this Hibari Kyoya I've heard about."

"And?" Kyoya asked, there was something about this herbivore, and not quite as irritating as others especially not other females, there was a gleam in her eyes that spoke of something and a grace and fluidity in her movements he saw that reminded him of a wild cat. He took a closer look at her, she wasn't wearing the uniform, which was against the rules, both of her ears were pierced twice holding a small silver hoop and a silver stud. Her face was rather pleasing to the eye a strange mixture of delicate and stubborn, there was a scar showing by the right side of her chin; it would mostly have been hidden by her hair if it wasn't for the wind. This girl was not ordinary, and it caught his attention.

"And? And I hear you're strong." Ren said as she slid her left foot back in a strong stance her body easily balanced on the balls of her feet. She saw with delight that spark in the other's eyes as he saw the challenge in her own.

"It's not every day that a herbivore willingly walks into being bitten to death." Kyoya said as he took a firm hold on his tonfas.

"I think you'll find I'm no measly animal of prey." Ren said back and gripped the heavy cylinder from the holster on her belt and extended it. She ground her teeth against the grating sound of the metal screeching and catching as it extended, her poor weapon was already quiet abused when she had acquired it and the shape it was in now wouldn't last for too much longer.

Kyoya smiled at the challenge this piece of prey was presenting to be, he struck at her and she easily stepped out of the way with easy movement and no wasted energy. Ren twirled the staff in her hand and took a step toward him and aimed a blow to his stomach but as she expected he was no easy prey either. She blocked his next attack and returned with one of her own using the staffs momentum to propel her own kick at his side, she smiled with satisfaction when it connected and was even more pleased when she heard a quiet grunt of pain come from him. But even if he was in pain it didn't stop him, as he lunged toward her again. She dodged and returned her own attack but was interrupted when a knee connected to her stomach and sent her flying back into the wall.

She barely had time to take a breath before he was on her again, trying to limit her movement by pinning her to the wall. Quickly she brought up her staff to block his tonfas, she did but he had the upper advantage and used his weight and strength to bare down on her. She let out a string of curses all in different languages as she heard the distinctive screech of metal as her staff began to break because of the force he used. Thinking fast she pushed back just enough before dropping to the ground and using her hands to propel both of her feet into his stomach. The strength in her attack made him skid several feet away and gave her the chance to get to her feet, she glanced at the weapon in her hand it was practically useless now and would no way hold up to her opponents strong and swift assault. So she was going to use it for an attack, without waiting a heartbeat she charged Kyoya coming in low she planned to disarm him of his own weapon it worked on the first tonfa he was using to guard with but the second he twisted and locked with her staff. The strain was too much as she moved away she watched as the other half of her now broken staff landed a few feet away. With a sigh she dropped the useless piece she still held, if she was going to continue this fight she would be doing it hand to hand, mentally cringing at the idea. If she did she would probably not come out of this fight with just a few bruises, not with the kind of strength her opponent held, but then again Ren didn't meet someone with this much ability every day and even now her blood was running thick and hot with the excitement of their battle.

Ren braced herself when Kyoya charged at her, she would need to avoid those dangerous tonfas of his if she planned to escape without any broken bones. She side stepped again and aimed another punch at his side but he evaded, she waited for his next attack but was surprise when he was stopped and even more surprised at what stopped him.

"Ciasso Hibari." An infant in a black suit and fedora said as he walked up to them.

"Baby, why are you getting in the way?" Kyoya asked annoyed at the baby he knew was strong.

"I came to see the new student, she's strong." The baby said as if Ren wasn't even there and that annoyed her.

"I'm standing right here, so do me a favor and not talk like I'm not here." Ren said as she bent down to be level with the baby and glared at him. "Who are you?"

"Ciasso, I'm a hit man for the Mafia and No Good Tsuna's home Tudor, Reborn." He introduced himself. Ren looked at the baby for a second, there was a strength coming from the child, and it peaked her interest.

"Alauda Ren." I said back to the baby, Reborn smiled and laughed.

"Two Skylarks in the school, won't that be interesting."

Ren stood up confused for a second then it donned on her when Kyoya spoke up, in Japanese Skylark was called Hibari. "Baby why did you stop our fight?"

"Because I wanted to ask Alauda-san to join Tsuna's family."

"Reborn! What are you doing asking her that, she a girl!" Tsuna yelled coming from nowhere.

"And what's wrong with my being a girl?" Ren asked Tsuna as he came to a stop, her silver eyes narrowed dangerously and her voice cold.

"Hiee! I-I m-mean that it's t-the mafia n-no one in their right mind would join, let alone a girl." Tsuna said as he tried to explain his way out of the icy stare that at the moment resembled Hibair's own tremendously, he thought he had done a good job of it but the stare was still on him. He tried to stutter something else out but didn't get far before being kicked in the head by Reborn.

"Stupid Tsuna, she's going to be part of your family so don't insult her."

"Hey, I haven't said I would join yet." Ren said irritably, she didn't like being looked down upon and she really didn't like having her decisions made for her.

Reborn looked at her, "Of course you can have time to decide, but I would really like for you to be a member of his family. And so would he if he was thinking straight."

"Well before I decide why don't you tell me more about this Mafia." So Reborn did, giving her the short version, of the Vongal and Who Tsuna was going to be and his other family members. She was about to ask a question when she was interrupted.

"Baby, you and the herbivore are in the way of my fight."

"But it you fight her later then she will be stronger, she's lost her weapon as pitiful as it was."

"Hey!" Ren protested but was ignored.

"If you wait a bit then she'll be a better opponent." Reborn finished and she watched as Kyoya thought it over before putting his weapons away.

"Fine but we will fight again Carnivore." Kyoya said as he walked away.

"Ren."

"What?"

"It's Ren."

"Hn, we will fight again Carnivore and I will bite you to death." Kyoya said before leaving. Ren smiled, the thoughts of fighting him again were making her excited with anticipation, she wanted to fight this fellow predator. To see if she could best him or him her, it made her fighting spirit sing. Maybe just maybe this school wouldn't be so boring after all, as a bright spot of deep purple appeared among all the grey. She glanced over at the mangled pieces of metal that had once been her trusted partner, picking up one piece she looked at it longingly, she had never gone anywhere without her weapon and now she had none.

"Well partner, you've served me well but this is the end." Ren said and dropped the lump of metal. "So what's this about me joining the Mafia? I admit I like Tsuna and his friends, but I haven't seen anything that really makes me want to follow him."

"Why You!" Gokudera yelled in outrage, "There is no one better than the tenth!"

Ren gave him an apprising look, the silver haired punk did hold an unnatural loyalty to the kid and considering he didn't like many people there was probably something that made him follow Tsuna, but she hadn't seen it yet. "That may be so, and maybe you know what it is and have seen it, but the fact is I haven't and that makes me hesitant to give my loyalty or possibly my life for someone." She looked back to Reborn, "I'll take some time to think it over, then give you my answer, but even if I don't join your family Tsuna, being your friend is a different thing." She smiled at him and Tsuna gave a hesitant embarrassed smile back. "We should probably get to class, wouldn't want to anger Kyoya."

Reborn watched as his student and his family walked back through the roof door, he smirked his knowing mischievous smirk. He had watched the entire match between Hibari and Ren and he saw an almost endless amount of potential in her as well as in Hibari, and they seemed to suit each other well. He would need to keep an eye on her she had the potential for something that very few people did, and he would need to keep an eye on how the two Skylarks interacted. Because there was defiantly something there, but there was also something else and this made him frown. Her smile while it seemed real enough it wasn't, if held amusement only but it wasn't a real smile something more to a smirk but wasn't. And her name it sounded familiar he would have to do some research on her.


	3. Chapter 3

Ren arrived at school completely annoyed, it had been nearly two weeks since she had started in Namimorie and she still had yet to receive her school uniform. That in itself didn't bother her, but being stopped every morning by people from the disciplinary committee because she wasn't in uniform was annoying.

She had met and beaten almost every person on the committee, and she had become rather well acquainted with Tetsu, Kyoya's vice. The quiet chairman himself had been rather scares they barely ever ran into each other and for the most part he left her alone except for yesterday they had had a brief but thrilling battle neither of them was the winner but she did come out with some rather interesting bruises. Ren stood outside the school gates with several of the Disciplinary members bodies around her when she heard the familiar high pitched yell from Tsuna. He was chasing down a boy in a cow suite with an afro, she recognized this child as Lambo who she met briefly at Tsuna's house.

"Lambo get back here! You need to go home." Tsuna yelled as he chased the kid.

"Humm, NO!" Lambo yelled then ran even further away, "Lambo wants to play!"

"Lambo wait stop! Get out of the street." Tsuna yelled as Lambo ran into the road.

"No! Lambo wants to play!" the stubborn cow child yelled then turned around when a blare of a car horn sounded. Fear lanced threw Ren's heart as she watched as Lambo completely froze in terror of the oncoming car and she was too far away to each the child in time.

"LAMBO!" Tsuna yelled, and things sped by so fast, there was a squeal of tires and the smell of burning rubber filled the air. Ren ran to were the car had swerved to the side of the road, looking around for any sign of Tsuna and Lambo.

"Ow, ow, ow. " Tunas said as he uncured himself away from the shaking form of Lambo, his clothes were a mess, torn and stained with dirt and blood from the gash on his arm when he skidded on the ground. There was blood on his cheek from further treatment from his meeting with the asphalt. Ren smiled as she watched from the sidelines as Gokudera and Kyoko rushed to make sure the two were alright and relatively unharmed. She had finally seen what she needed to see, anybody who would risk there life for a subordinate was worth following, especially when that subordinate was a selfish annoying brat, with that in mind she walked up to the group.

"Good job Tsuna, not many would jump in front of a moving car like that."

"Well I couldn't just do nothing, no matter how annoying he is he still a part of my family." Tsuna replied as he winced away from Gokudera's bandaging.

Ren smiled again, "Well you can count me in among that family of yours, I've seen what I need to make up my mind." Tsuna looked at her dumbfounded as Gokudera congratulated him on having another member to his mafia family. "Now, why don't we get you taken care of?" She held out a hand and pulled him to his feet.

Kyoya looked at the report on his desk with annoyance, the last weak many of his disciplinary members were being injured, it was an annoyance that he would need to fix. "What are you doing here baby?"

"Ciasso, Hibari." Reborn said from the perch he had on the desk. "Ren is strong isn't she." Kyoya looked up at this trying to see were the baby was possibly heading with it.

"She is, why?" he said an image of the black haired female with her sharp silver eyes flashing in his head.

"And she doesn't seem to annoy you as most other people do."

"She's quiet, and doesn't say useless things." He replied still not seeing where this was going.

"That's true. It's just too bad there isn't someone capable to help you with all this paper work that they dump on you." Reborn said getting up from the place he sat in, hoping the seeds he just planted would soon bear fruit. Kyoya wasn't stupid he could easily tell what the baby had been hinting at, he smiled as he glanced out the window, and he agreed it wasn't such a bad idea, he found the female carnivore interesting enough, she was strong and capable and she didn't bother him with useless things like most people did. He would need to give this more thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Ren yawned as the warm sun beat down on her, she was tired and the last class had been extremely boring because of the fact she knew the material that they were going over. Technically she should have been a third year in the middle school or in American terms a freshman in high school, the board of directors insisted that she take some lower level classes to make sure she understood everything. She hoped they soon figured out she did and let her take the classes she should be taking.

She yawned again glad for it to be over, now she needed to attend to the never ending annoyance of her uniform. And seeing as how going to the principle was partially useless as all he could tell her was it was delayed she was going to the next highest power in this school. 'Or most likely this whole town.' She thought to herself, yes she was heading to see her name sharing friend, Hibari Kyoya. Ok so maybe they weren't friends but they weren't actually annoyances to each other. Ren opened the door to the committees room and found him sitting behind his desk reading threw a handful of papers.

"What do you want carnivore, and why aren't you in uniform?" Kyoya demanded but had yet to move to pull out his tonfas.

"That's exactly why I'm here. The school had at least a week and a half to get me my uniform and yet I still don't have it." She explained as she sat on his couch without his permission. "Normally I wouldn't have paid it much mind but I'm getting tired of beating up your Disciplinary members for breaking the rules. And don't go telling me to talk to the principal, I know very well that he is the one that is supposed to be handling that kind of thing, so when I did see him he said it was being delayed. So here I am hoping you can do something about it."

Kyoya looked at her surprised, that was probably the longest thing she had ever said to him before, and strangely it didn't bother him. Especially at how annoyed she looked at the moment, her silver eyes just radiating the emotion while her left eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Before he had compared her to a graceful feline like a black leopard but at the moment she reminded him uncannily like a feline cub that was just tossed in the river, now with its fur all puffed out and hissing.

"Why are you staring at me?" She demanded and Kyoya's mouth twitched into a semblance of a smile.

"So you were the one taking out all of those weak subordinates. That solves one mystery. You haven't joined a club yet have you?" Kyoya asked in an easy amused voice.

Ren stared at him for a moment surprised at the abrupt change in topic and the fact that he was participating in a conversation while not fighting, "No, I haven't there's nothing really that peaks my intrest, besides it's not required. Why?"

"Hum." Was his only reply as he reached into a draw and tossed her something, it fluttered over to her and when she caught it, it was the arm band of the disciplinary committee, before she could ask why he had given it to her he spoke up. "You'll be the new secretary of the disciplinary committee it means you'll help me with the paper work and accompany me on patrols."

"What-"

"It also solves the problem of your uniform, as long as it is the colors of the committee you can were anything." He finished.

"Why?" Ren asked after she finally processed everything.

"Do I need a reason?"

"No, but considering what I know about you there is some reason behind it."

"hum, your perceptive, your strong and not nearly as annoying as most of the others and I do not mind your company." Kyoya said without blinking. "Now go home you start tomorrow."

Ren stood a strangely satisfied feeling coursing through her and a smirk on her face. "I'll take the compliment, but I also have the feeling that Reborn had a hand in this."

"You wouldn't be wrong, but I decided to let you in because I think you're worthy."

"Alright see you tomorrow Kyoya." Ren said over her shoulder, she was gone before he got a chance to object to her use of his first name. She didn't head straight home but stopped by the classroom to grab her things before heading to the gate were she was surprised to find Tsuna and Reborn waiting for her.

"Ciasso, Ren. I heard No Good Tsuna got you to agree to be in his family." Reborn said from atop the school wall.

"He showed me something that I thought was worth following."

"Well now that that is settled, catch." Reborn threw a short black rod at her. The rod was light and with a shiny and smooth black lacquer coating with a pointed silver cap on each end the shaft had elegant cravings of clouds and swirls that resembled the wind, she loved it immediately.

"What is this?"

"Your new weapon. The Vongal smiths just created it and were waiting for someone worthy to come along and use it, but it's not quite the same as your old staff it's going to take some training to be able to wield it properly."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked it was a staff what could be different about it from her last one?

"You'll haft to find out that on your own. Now extend it." Ren did as she was told, twirling the rod with ease she extended it to its full length. She twirled it a couple more times to get a feel for it and almost dropped it twice.

"It's lighter than what I'm used to and slips away easier." Reborn watched as Ren slid a hand along the rods length getting a feel for it her silver eyes taking in all the details with a delight that only a person who loves to fight would have. He watched as the exact moment she found the hidden tricks to this modified weapon.

"I'm told there are several combinations that you'll haft to figure out. Let's go home Tsuna." Reborn said then kicked poor Tsuna in the head for no good reason. "Oh, and congratulations on your promotion."

"Thanks Reborn, but I suspect that you had a hand in this position." Her only answer to that was a knowing smirk that made her think that Reborn had more in store for her eventually.

"Promotion?" Tsuna repeated, then looked back at Ren noticing for the first time the red and gold arm band on her left bicep. "Heiii! You're in the Disciplinary Committee!"

Ren gave a dangerous smile. "I'm working as Kyoya's secretary, which means I'll be working right beside him. So don't be late tomorrow ok." Ren held back a laugh as Tsuna paled and began stuttering incoherent things until Reborn kicked him again. "Bye Tsuna see you tomorrow."

"Reborn, why did you get her to work with Hibari?" Tsuna asked quietly on their way home.

Reborn was surprised to see such an intense and serious question coming from his no good student. "Because she needs him and he needs her, though they don't know it yet."

"But they're nothing alike?"

"Actually they are very alike, but unlike Hibari she's also friends with you and the others. She is aloof and independent but she also makes a point to connect with each of you and the rest of the family. You need that, someone that can easily communicate with Hibari without being killed but someone who also cares for you guys, though she cares in a distant way."

"What do you mean?"

"This morning, when there was the accident instead of rushing over and worrying about you like the others she was calm and caring but in a direct and distant way. You'll see what I'm talking about eventually." Tsuna didn't get much of what Reborn was saying but he also trusted him and what he said so for now he was going to let it be.

When Ren got home she indeed found that she would need some additional training for her new weapon. She sat cross-legged in her room, not only was it a staff but it was also a four part poll with a chain connecting each of the parts. She hissed in pain as something unexpected happened and she dropped the weapon, and found that the silver points on both ends of the staff were actually blades that she could release. In both the staff form and in the four part pole, she could decide if she wanted the blades on both ends or if she just wanted one.

Reborn had been right, there were a lot of tricks to this weapon and that she would defiantly need some training, she had no idea how to wield it properly, unless you count hack and bash. No, she wouldn't stand any real chance with a master. She would need to hold off on using that form until she found a suitable teacher. Hissing again she glanced at her left shoulder there was a good sized gash in it that was dripping blood onto her bedroom floor.

A sudden chill over took her as she watched the blood drip from her hand as she tried to staunch the flow. The red of her blood made her queasy and her head began to throb, it started as a dull pain but quickly escalated to sharp incapacitating pain dark images flashed threw her mind at a dizzying pace. And as quickly as it had begun it stopped, Ren uncurled herself from the fetal position she didn't remember making, she felt weak and her body shook uncontrollably as she rose to her feet. Using the wall as a support she made her way to her bathroom where she cleaned and bound the wound. Splashing some cold water on her face she looked in the mirror and found herself to be ghostly pale, flashes of the dark images flickered in her mind and made her shudder. Whatever those images meant they weren't pleasant and she wonder for a moment if she really wanted to remember whatever they were.

Once she had calmed down she left for her room again only to be stopped by her grandmother standing in there.

"What do you think you're doing getting blood all over the place?" Her grandmother yelled, reluctantly Ren faced the older woman. She had once been pretty; she was the image of a geisha doll with a thin and delicate face and body, full lips and silky black hair. Now that beauty had been lost to age and time, though she still held fast to the old ways of her country, she still wore kimonos and did things very traditional like. It appalled her sense of womanly duties that Ren walked around carrying weapons and fighting men, when men should be the ones that should be fighting for her.

With a sigh Ren answered, "I cut my self and was just bandaging it."

"Well things like this wouldn't happen if you would just act like a lady, instead of this-this…awh." She trailed off in frustration unable to even voice what she thought of Ren's actions.

"Well deal with it, I cut myself on accident, so sorry that I got blood all over the place." Ren retaliated giving her relative an icy glare and before she could say anymore retreated to her bathroom again, quickly closing the sliding door. Still fuming she picked up the weapon feeling a tingle go through her at its touch and returned it to its collapsed form, before getting ready for bed.

When morning came Ren was still irritated with her grandmother, sure her grandmother never wanted her here and she hated her dad but neither did Ren want to be here. But Ren didn't have a choice, her grandmother was her only living relative and her grandmother thought it not fulfilling her womanly duties to just send her off to an orphanage. So whether or not they liked it they were stuck with each other. With that, to add to irritation on top of irritation she still didn't have a uniform to wear to school, which meant she would most likely get stopped by the disciplinary members again. But as she began dressing she noticed the red and gold armband on her bedside table and that irritation she had suddenly turned into something else. With hurried patience she quickly finished in the bathroom and changed the bandaged on her arm before hurrying to get ready for the day.

She was part of the Disciplinary committee now and as Kyoya had said she didn't need to wear the school uniform, just the disciplinary committees colors, namely black. So with a certain happiness at that thought she began dressing. Knowing she still had to were a skirt she grabbed a short black one that allowed free and easy movement with a pair of tight black shorts underneath just in case she got in a fight. She decided to go with a short sleeve white from fitting dress shirt leaving the top buttons undone with a red ribbon she had found in a loose looking tie. Lastly she pulled out one of her favorite pieces of clothing, a gift from her dad, a black jacket that looked vaguely like a suit jacket but was more feminine and casual. She had loved this coat so much that she had bought several more like it, another in black, one in blue and one in a deep forest green. And at the moment a deep purple and a blood red one were on their way now.

Ren smiled at a memory of her father, he had thought her love of the jacket a bit excessive but that was her thing, after all she was still a girl, some girls liked purses or high heels, Ren liked Jackets. Picking up the arm band she pinned it to the left sleeve of the jacket pulled on a pair of dark knee high socks and fished around in her dirty clothes pile for her weapon holder. It wasn't anything special dark brown leather with an intercut holster that allowed easy release she slipped the new weapon into its place at her side hidden from view by her jacket she grabbed her bag and house keys and made her way to the kitchen where she shared a quick and heavily silenced breakfast with her grandmother before lacing up a pair of knee high, low healed black boots and heading to school and her first day as a Disciplinary member.


	5. Chapter 5

member.

It had been three days since Ren had started as a Disciplinary member and she found the constant and slightly repeated work strangely soothing. Or maybe it was the company, she had barely left Kyoya's side since she started always helping him with the constantly multiplying paperwork and the patrols and other problems that were part of his job. She was actually a little surprised with all that had been going on in this school and of all that he took care of.

Picking up a stack of forms that she had completed and just needed his signature to be made official she approached him at his desk. "Kyoya these just need your signature and then they can be sent out and filed away." An amused smile twitched her lips at the slight uncomfortable reaction of her use of his name. Ren didn't think he knew she could read him so easily and if he didn't she didn't plan on changing his thinking. So when she had called him that first day she laughed at his reaction and found only two people called him that with his permission, his vice Tetsu and his only family his grandmother. She knew as soon as he thought about her that he cared very deeply about his grandmother, but she didn't say anything knowing that kind of attention would likely embarrass him even if he didn't show it.

"Done." Kyoya handed the stack back to Ren, and returned back to his own papers, when a movement caught his eye. She was yawning again, he counted at least ten the last hour, was he working her to hard? No, he was sure it was something else, most likely to do with the dark circles under her eyes and wondered briefly what was wrong but there never seemed to be reason to bring up the topic and she never let it interfere with her duties. He glanced at the piles of paper that had been shrunken more than half since when they began, as much as he hated the idea he would need to thank the baby next time he saw him for putting the idea of making Ren a member in his mind. She had been helpful beyond his expectations, she seemed to know what he wanted before he did and was ready with the papers, or was always on time for the patrols they went on. And he never needed to worry about her safety because he knew from personally experience that she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

He stifled his own yawn and looked over at the clock it was passed lunchtime and even he was beginning to get hungry. "Ren go get something to eat." He said flatly.

Ren smiled at the flat tone Kyoya used, knowing that it was a silent command to also get him something to eat, as his pride wouldn't allow him to admit something as weak as hunger. "Alright I'll be back in an hour, you should take a break as well Kyoya. We've been at this none stop all morning." She said lightly and received a distracted 'hn' for an answer, with a roll of her eyes she left the room. She thought she could read Kyoya pretty well during their first fight but after spending three days barely leaving his side she found out she was wrong. But now she knew she could read him easily, Tsuna and the others thought he was an emotionless demon but in truth you just needed to know how to read his emotions then they were fairly easy to see. But for Kyoya's sake she decided to keep that bit of knowledge to herself, besides it made her feel special knowing something like that.

Ren shook her head in disbelief, she was surprised by such frivols feelings that she had formed ever since she had come to Namimorie. With a sigh she went to get her food, ordering a couple of meat buns wrapped in tinfoil to keep them hot for Kyoya along with a can of green tea. Another meat bun for herself a can of ginseng tea and a bag of chips. As she was paying she heard Tsuna yell out for her, him and the others were crowded around a table outside in the nice afternoon shade.

"Hey, Tsuna where's Gokudera?" Ren asked as it was rare to see him without his shadow of a right hand man.

"Ahh, I'm not sure, he said he was going to the bathroom then he never showed up."

"Humm, watch my food I'll go find him, I have a sneaking suspicion I know what happened." With that she left hers and Kyoya's food and went in search of the missing boy. She actually got along well with the silver haired boy, but she also knew that he was very hesitant to open up to anybody else other than Tsuna and sill he tried to keep personal things to himself. Even though him keeping it to himself was making Tsuna more worried about him than if he told him what was going on. But she couldn't exactly blame him as she did the same things, but then again she wasn't aiming to be the right hand man.

Ren rounded a corner and look with amusement at the group of girls all crowding in the halls looking through doorways, no doubt looking for the hiding Gokudera. She glanced at the janitorial closet to her right and saw the faint shadow of someone trying to keep quiet, she felt bad for him being trapped in there with the mildew mops and dustpans and other cleaning supplies. Letting her easy going self that she had with her friend's drop she let that bored look come over her face.

"What are all doing loitering in the hallways, there's no need for you to be here go back to your class rooms or outside." Ren said in a slightly monotone and threatening voice.

"What, who the hell are you?" a girl said getting all huffy and territorial.

"Oh, it's the girl who's been hanging around with all the good looking guys, even Hibari-sama." Another said and this got all the girls riled up.

"Don't think you're so full of yourself slut, when we tell everyone that you've been sleeping around with a bunch of boys and the teachers. I know there's no way you could get such good grades or on the disciplinary committee without using some sexual favors. Even with that unappealing body." The girl with a pound of makeup on said.

Ren's eyes narrowed, at first it was boredom but now she was annoyed and angry, she heard shuffling in the closet as Gokudera tried to get up and open the door to defend her. With a smile at this Ren leaned her weight on it so it couldn't be opened, before letting that cold anger come over her again. "Oh, so you think I'm a slut even though I'm not sleeping with Michiza from class 3-A while supposedly dating Tazukie from that same class, oh did I forget to mention that there best friends. If I'm the slut then I would defiantly would like to know what you would consider yourself." Ren's voice so cold and dangerous it could burn while her silver eyes were narrowed and giving the group a look that could have frozen boiling water.

"H-how did you know that." The girl stuttered under her freezing gaze.

Ren let a humorless smirk twist her lips s, "That's my secret, I'm curious what do you call a girl who has a thing for guys, stuffed animals and nude pictures, or for rich perverts." Ren heard several gasps as those who spoke up the most flinched at their secrets being reviled.

"Y-you H-have n-no proof." Makeup girl said.

"Do you really want to take that chance?" the truth of her threat clearly in her icy gaze, "Now scram before I change my mind." They scattered like bugs more than half of them murmuring curses under their breath. With a sigh Ren moved away from the door, "you can come out now they're gone."

"Che, I didn't need your help." Gokudera said as he untangled himself from a mop.

"So you were just going to stay hidden away in a broom closet until they finally found you and there was no chance of escape." He didn't say anything to her reply. "Come on, Tsuna and the others are waiting."

They walked in silence for a while before Gokudera finally spoke up. "Why didn't you say anything back, why did you just let them say those things?"

"Why should it bother me, it's not true and the only people I care about for their opinions all know the truth, sure they could tell the principal and he could call my family but there's not much they could do to make staying with her any worse. Besides I think they got the message that I'm not someone to take on lightly."

Gokudera made an unhappy face, "But still I would of hit them a few times for the insults."

Ren laughed, "I know you would of and that's why I like you." He gave her a puzzled look, "You play it cool and act like you don't care about the rest of us but you would still defend us from someone's bad mouthing or threatening. You know it may not be the most comfortable thing to open yourself up to others but you'll be glad you did in the end. And it would help Tsuna more if his right hand man had the complete trust of the other subordinates. And the best part about it is you don't haft to change yourself because of it, you can still be the same bad mouthing punk that we all know and love."

"What are you saying?"

Ren stopped an looked him straight in the eyes, "I'm saying that you'll only become a true right hand man to Tsuna if you can open up a bit and get the trust of the other family members, because if Tsuna is not there when a crises happens everybody needs to be able to trust you to keep them together and get them through it. But to do this you don't need to change yourself just put a bit of trust in those around you and they'll return that trust."

"A-and if I can't?" he asked quietly.

"It never even crossed my mind, you can do it, at this moment you are your own worst enemy. But even if you find you can't do it then you can know that you have my trust and I'll be there to back you up from the background." Gokudera looked at her stunned as he took in what she said and the gravity of her words. She smiled at him, a true and trusting smile, "Now, why don't we join the others before we worry them too much, alright Gokudera."

"Hayato." He mumbled with a faint blush of embarrassment.

"What?"

"Call me Hayato."

"Alright let's go Hayato."

When they arrived back to the others Ren explained she had to rescue Hayato from a group of nagging pests. They laughed at the annoyed look on his face and asked why she was suddenly calling him by his first name. She had replied with a secretive look that it was a secret which gave the impression that they were going out.

"Idiot! Now they think we're going out." He yelled at Ren.

With an obviously hurt look she replied, "What, Hayato were not." This made everybody start laughing and losing the impression that they were dating while simultaneously forgetting there original question. When the class bell rang she split apart from the group and headed back to Kyoya and the mountains of paper work, only to find him curled up and asleep on the couch.

Quietly she moved past him and placed his food in the sun so it would still be warm when he woke up, she glanced back at him and smiled to herself. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, curled up asleep while he used his coat as a blanket, she watched as he moved and dislodged the jacket. Quietly as she could she grabbed the edge and covered him back up, taking the chance to look closer at his face and found it to be only more handsome up close, she moved a stray silky black bang out of his face before moving away and returning to the mountains of papers.

Kyoya shifted and woke slightly when the pleasant and gentle scent of pomegranate and roses filled his nose, but he didn't wake fully only falling back into sleep. When he truly did wake it was to the end of school bell. Groggily he opened his eyes and became aware of the sound of shuffling papers, instantly on alert he looked toward the source of the noise, only to find Ren at her desk shuffling threw a small stack of papers, humming a peaceful and soothing, though off key melody.

"How long have you been here?" he asked curious.

"Since I got back from lunch, your food is still hot if you're hungry, though your tea is in the mini fridge." She said easily as she stood and placed the small stack she held on the larger of three piles of paper. He heard what she said but Kyoya was still letting the fact that she had been here for at least three hours and he hadn't woken nor sensed her presence. No, that wasn't quite right, he had sensed her but her presence just didn't concern him enough to rouse him from his sleep. Was he getting that careless or was it just that he was that comfortable and at ease with her near him. He was leaning to the latter. He stood and moved over to the carefully wrapped food and found the contents to still be hot.

"Kyoya," she said quietly to get his attention as she moved to the three stacks of paper. "I went through most of them already, the tallest stack just needs your signature, the smallest are things you need to handle personally and the last stack were the ones I haven't gotten to yet."

"You did a lot while I was napping."

"Hn, I also found out an interesting thing during lunch, it looks like there's a teacher or two that maybe swapping out grades for sexual favors. I don't have any evidence but there were two teachers that defiantly seemed to stand out. Would you take a look at it when you get a chance, see what you think."

Kyoya glanced at the file she laid on the desk and with a quick glance he could tell her research and suspects were well thought out and reasoned. "I don't see a reason why I need to, you did fine on your own, when you come up with a definite criminal let me know." He glanced at the neatly stacked papers with most important on top, she really did do a lot while he was resting. "Go home, you've done enough here today."

Two days later she caught the culprit red handed when he tried to get her to have sex with him for a better grade, and with a not so gentle apprehension the teacher was banned from school and the police were charging him with statutory rape on three counts as he blackmailed two of his female and one male scholarship students with failing grades if he didn't get his way which would have caused them to loose there place in school. And with that said and done she was reporting the final details to Kyoya on the roof.

"Three times." Kyoya said out of the blue.

"What?" Ren asked, to her surprise he grabbed her hand and pulled her down onto the sun warmed stone tiles of the roof next to him.

"That was the third time you've yawned in the time you've been up here and the shadows under your eyes are getting deeper." He took his coat and tossed it at her to use as a pillow. "Take the day off and get some rest."

"But your coat-"

"Just use it." He cut her off rudely, he was getting a bit worried as those dark shadows hadn't been lessening lately and it had made him extra sharp.

"I-I can't" Ren said quietly and he saw a sliver of fear mixed with pain and confusion enter her usually calm and fearless eyes. But he also saw the moment she was berating herself for letting that small fear slip.

Without thinking he sat beside her, "Sleep, I'll be here for a while." Ren looked at him surprised he was being unusually kind but she wasn't ungrateful for it as of lately every time she tried to sleep those dark images tried to overtake her again and the thought of him being there while she slept calmed her a bit. Head down she mumbled a quite thanks and laid down with her back to him her head resting on his jacket. She could easily smell his sent, it was light and fresh like the wind after a spring shower mixed with something that didn't have a clear sent but brought to mind thoughts of freedom, and while inhaling that sent she swiftly fell into slumber.

Kyoya watched as her body fell into the relaxed state of slumber, something was bothering her lately and it bothered him slightly as he looked at this strange girl. The scent of pomegranate and roses drifted to him on the breeze, it didn't take him long to realize that it was Ren's scent, it fit her, dark, dangerous yet beautiful. It still baffled him that he could feel so at ease with this girl, but he was beginning to enjoy it and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not but at the moment he couldn't find a reason to care. And with that thought fell asleep beside her, both unaware of the prying eyes of Reborn as he observed the two, with a satisfied smirk. Though with the peaceful scene in front of him he could feel something foreboding on the wind. And that foreboding is what woke Kyoya a few hours later.


	6. Chapter 6

Kyoya woke to the sound of the school anthem playing on his phone, with a groan he turned his head to the side avoiding the sunlight as he opened his eyes. He almost jumped back in surprise to what he saw, Ren's face, it was peaceful and serein in slumber a bit of her black hair had fallen in front of her face. Sitting up he observed her, she had turned toward him while asleep and curled up like a cat, her hands tucked lightly by her face knees toward her chest. Her clothes were shifted, the black coat she wore pulled back and the fitted white shirt had hiked up exposing a bit of pale skin, the muscles beneath toned and what he knew must have taken months of strenuous work the bare outline of her stomach muscles. Kyoya could see the silver spiked tip of her staff from under the a skewed jacket as he leaned closer and lightly brushed the lock of hair away from her face, she twitched from the contact but didn't awaken.

When his phone rang again he sighed as he answered, it was Tetsu. "What is it?" Tetsu paused, surmised by the sound in his bosses voice, it was almost as if he sounded happy or peaceful, but he wasn't sure having never heard or seen anything that could relax his boss to this state before. "Tetsu."

The sound of his name brought him back to attention, "Yes, sir. We have a problem, I was waiting for the noon patrol to come back, but when they didn't show for a long time I went in search for them ."

"And."

"And when I found them they were all unconscious and badly wounded, I had to call an ambulance for some of them the others I just took to the emergency room. But the fact still remains five of our strongest members were attacked and beaten."

"I see," Kyoya paused before continuing having heard something behind him, Ren was there but instead of resting peacefully she was restless, her face contracted in pain and fear her body pulling in on itself and her limbs twitching and moving restlessly. A small cry sounded from her lips, this was obviously the cause of her tired state as of late. "We will be there soon." Kyoya finished curtly as he knelt back down besides Ren, he placed a hand on her head and some of the tension in her body left. Without meaning to he stroked her hair soothingly like he would a felines and watched as the rest of her fell back into a restful sleep. Continuing this for a few minutes more he marveled at the way her hair felt more like fur, he smiled slightly, more and more she was reminding him of a feline.

With a little disappointment he gently shook her shoulder to awaken her, "Wake up Ren." Her silver eyes blinked sleepily up at him.

"W-what, how long have I been asleep?" She questioned sitting up and stretching the muscles still warmed by the sun.

"A few hours', go get your things something's happened and were meeting Tetsu." He replied quietly those purple grey eyes unwavering and there calmness, he watched as all at once Ren was wide awake , 'hum, good battle instinct.' He thought to himself.

"All right I'll meet you at the gate." And with that she ran off to get her things not noticing that she took his coat with her, but he did and shook his head harshly, he was getting to be soft if something like that didn't bother him, or maybe it was just the fact that it was her that was doing it. He wasn't sure and he didn't like to dwell on those soft herbivore feelings. When she met him at the gate she gave a small embarrassed laugh as she gave his coat back.

"Let's go Carnivore." Kyoya said simply as he draped his coat back over his shoulder, trying not to react to the pleasing scent of pomegranate and roses that clung to the material. Ren glanced sideways at him as they walked, it had been a while since he had called her Carnivore. After their first fight he had recognized her as a predator and not a herbivore, and after the first week of her being his secretary and a few more sparring matches she had finally gotten him to call her by name, so why the sudden reversal.

She wouldn't admit it but it hurt a little, she had thought they were growing rather close if not as friends then at least as comrades. But she wouldn't voice it, so instead she asked about the current problem. "So what is this problem that Tetsu told you about?"

"A few of our strongest members were beaten up badly and left unconscious, he brought them to the hospital as a few required aid."

"How many?"

"Five."

"Really, this must have been some opponent, no one but you me and maybe Hayato and Royhei could have taken out five members, at least not alone. Someone who has a grudge on the committee?" Ren mused out loud and only got a quiet hun as any acknowledgement that he was listening and had agreed with her.

"Kyo-san, and Ren-san." Tetsu greeted them before leading them to see the five members that had been beaten. As he had said over the phone they were badly beaten, all had broken bones some more server than others and three out of five had mild to severe concussions. "I asked the ones that are awake what had happened, he said they had found a student that was skipping that day and were going to discipline him when someone called out to them they turned around and that's all they know the next thing they remember was waking up to me calling them."

"They didn't see who attacked them?" Ren asked surprised.

"Only a blur of green." Tetsu replied, "how should we proceed Kyo-san?"

"Carnivore." Kyoya spoke quietly, meeting his eyes she saw that he was leaving it to her to get all the facts then to report it to him. She gave a silent nod that was barely more than the slight dip of her chin before he left for his evening patrol.

"Tetsu, were is the kid that was skipping school, I need to talk to him." Ren asked as she fell into a role she had become quite familiar with ever since she had joined the committee.

"Actually, he's the sixth victim. He was also transported to the hospital and he had some of the worst injuries and has yet to regain consciousness."

"The sixth victim, he was also attacked by these people." Tetsu nodded, watching with a smile as Ren took over control, even though technically he was of a higher position than her as vice chairman, she was obviously the one more in charge. But he didn't mind, she was good at it and he would rather not have the power or responsibilities that she and Kyo-san share. He had been rather surprised that he wasn't the only one that felt like that when he had talked with the other members, all of them liked her and weren't bothered by the way she took over situations and became the leader. She was aloof and cold just like Kyo-san but unlike him she didn't confine herself to that one role, she talked to the other members and joked with them she was more real than Kyo-san but she was still untouchable like him. Everyone was content to let her be the leader and make the decisions while they just followed orders, though a few had problems with it at first for the fact that Ren was a woman.

"It doesn't make sense," Ren spoke up pulling Tetsu from his thoughts and into the intense gaze of her silver eyes. "If this was an attack against the committee, then why go after the one that was being disciplined by us, wouldn't you rather have him as an ally. So why turn on him?" She asked to no one in particular. "Tetsu, tell me all the information on those that were attacked, names, classes, there clubs, anything of inportance."

"Yes, ma'am." He replied and gave her the run down on all six wounded.

"Thanks, text me the same information if anything more happens, if I'm right then this is just the beginning."

Ren sat at her desk tapping her pen angrily, her annoyance and piercing glare making a clearly visible empty space between her and the other students, even the teacher that loved to come down on her for not listening to her lecture was leaving her alone. She was so buried in her irritation that she didn't notice when the lunch bell rang until her phone buzzed for the third time that day. Out of the corner of her eye those that were closest to her visibly jumped when she put her pen none to gently down and dug out her phone. Letting loose another sigh she added another name to her list of victims. Three days, three days this had been going on and still they had no idea what this attack on the students was about. And it's been three day's since Kyoya told her to, well basically to stop helping him so much, he had been well for a lack of a better word, cold towards her ever since they fell asleep on the roof. And she had no idea what the sudden cold shoulder was for and that only pissed her off more.

She glanced at the little black leather bound book she carried habitual, in red ink were the names, classes and clubs of close to two dozen students. None ever saw the attackers just a blur of green, and the attacks were no longer on just Disciplinary students but on normal students. It wasn't the Disciplinary Committee that was the target, it was the school but why? Who would hate the school so much that they would be attacking the strong student within it? What was so important about this school? An idea formed in her head, maybe it's not the school that's the target but a certain special people that attend it, with that thought in mind she wrote a single word with a question mark and circled it, Vongal.

"Hey!" A voice yelled in Ren's ear, with a glare she turned to the offender and found herself staring at Hayato. "I see now I have your attention so drop the glare. Its lunch are you going to eat?" She gave a 'hn' of acknowledgement and followed him up to the roof with the others.

"Ah, Ren-san, there you are we haven't eaten together in a while." Kyoko said happily.

"Ya, sorry about that, I've been busy. I actually feel sorry for Kyoya, I had no idea that so much went into running a school, I mean seriously I think the principal is only there for looks. All of his work gets pushed onto Kyoya, and god the paper work is never endless." Ren said as she thought back to all the paper she had organized, sent, written up, and filed away.

"I think you're really amazing Ren, to be able to work so close to him and even have the nerve to call him by his first name." Tsuna commented with a shudder at the thought of what Kyoya would do to him if he tried to talk to him like Ren did.

"Really, he's not so bad as everybody thinks, you just haft to read his face and know what he's thinking that's all." Ren took a bite from a sandwich not noticing all the surprised and sweat roped looks the other were giving her. Then she glared at her sandwich as the problem of Kyoya's recent cold shoulder came to the for front of her mind.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Hayato asked noticing the look.

"Ya you're glaring at that sandwich like it just kicked your puppy or something." Yamamoto pointed out, speaking for the first time.

"It's the problem I've been working on lately with all the injured students, it's just not making sense." Ren said thinking fast hoping that the truth would cover up her lie, apparently it fooled everybody or at least almost everybody.

"Che, liar." Hayato said so low only she could hear it, though the remark had surprised her ever since she had started calling him by his first name they had grown very close and she could honestly say that he was her best friend.

"Oh, right I've heard about that, what do you know?" Hana asked.

"Not much-hang on." Ren said as her phone beeped with an incoming call, she frowned at the screen, it was Tetsu. Why would he be calling her directly? She answered and listened to what he said and she felt her face go cold and indifferent. The others all saw the change to her serious face even though it wasn't all that different to her normal one, but they noticed that her eyes went cold and unfeeling like the first time they had met. "Alright we will be there soon."

Ren hung up her phone packed away her food and stood, then in an emotionless voice said, "That was Tetsu, he just told me that him and Kyoya just found Ryohei-san in the same condition as the others, I'm heading to the hospital now if you want to come."

There was a collective gasp as everyone took in this grave news, then a shaky, "Nei-san, Nei-san is in the hospital." Ren nodded an affirmative to Kyoko, it didn't take anyone more than two minutes to abandon their food and follower her to the hospital. When they got there they found Ryohei in very bed condition and Kyoko immediately ran to her brothers side crying. Ren stayed out in the hall after everybody ran into see him having already seen what she needed to see. She took out her black book and wrote down her friends name class and club this time putting a check next to it.

"So you're thinking that someone who has a grudge against the Vongal is attacking the students?" Reborn asked from her shoulder that he seemed to just appear on.

"Yes, it's the only thing that makes sense to me, if it was just the Committee members that were being attacked then I would think is was someone with a grudge against us. But when other started getting attacked it became clear that they were looking for someone in particular but they just didn't know who. But I'm still not positive there's just too many possibility's." Reborn looked at her suddenly when he felt like a cold wind had just swept past him, Ren's expression hadn't changed but her eyes said it all. "But… if they are aiming for Tsuna and his family then I will drag them threw the nine hells face down."

Reborn feeling the chill of her words smiled his knowing smile, yes, this was indeed what was missing from Tsuna's family, that need to make anybody who threatens the family pay. It was true that the others had it as well, but they were all too close to Tsuna and wouldn't do anything he hadn't approved of, unlike someone from a more independent position.

"The doctor said he should be ok and will wake up at any time, so there's nothing to serious to worry about." Ren said entering the room for the first time.

"Nothing to worry about!" Hayato said with anger grabbing the front of her shirt. "Of course there's something to worry about, one of the tenth's men just got attacked and he wasn't the weakest of us. How can you say that without caring." Ren didn't react, only pried his fingers away before turning to leave, at the door she stopped and looked back at everyone over her shoulder.

"Hayato be careful, you to Yamamoto, there targets are strong people, which means that no doubt your on their list as well." She said in that same cold and calm voice she spoke normally in, before leaving to do some more research.

Che, stupid woman." Hayato spat out angrily as Tsuna began to freak out. Annoyed that his student and his family were losing it in the face of a crises Reborn harshly kicked Tsuna landing on his back with a resounding 'crack'.

"Stupid Tsuna calm down, you're not the only one worried look around the hospital is full of people." Tsuna looked shocked when he realized that almost the entire floor was filled with students from his school. Rubbing his head ashamed at his little outburst he sat up and crossed his legs.

"But what about Ren, she acted like she didn't care that Sasawagha-Sempi got hurt." He voiced and heard an annoyed 'che' from Gokudera.

"hum.. You're all idiots. Did you think she didn't feel anything? Well think about it this way," Reborn said as he opened up Ren's black leather book that had fallen out when Gokudera had grabbed her. "This is the entire list of people that have been attacked and of the first victim one still is in a coma, so considering that and the others injury's Ryohei got off easy."

"Then why didn't she say anything?" Hayato asked as he picked up the black book and looked over the page written in English with red ink.

"Because she was the only level headed one in the group, so when you came down on her she let you knowing what you were feeling and letting herself be the convenient target. She's staying clear headed so that she can find who did this and make them pay." Reborn explained, he watched his words sink in and saw the flash of regret flash threw Gokudera's eyes at how he treated her.

"Che stupid woman."

After most of the night searching and coming up empty handed, Ren made her way back to the hospital the next day to check on Royhei. She wondered if there had been any more incidents threw out the night, she hadn't received a text or call from Tetsu which was strange. She yawned as she made her way to the assigned room, when a small crowed attracted her attention, it was Tsuna and the others. A feeling of foreboding overcame her as she spotted familiar Elvis looking hair, pushing her way through the crowd she found Tetsu laying down on a stretcher with eyes closed as and covered in wounds.

"Tetsu. What happened?" She asked with that same calm uncaring demeanor that she wore yesterday even though inside she was raging with anger, first her mafia family and now her subordinates. Whoever was responsible for these attacks was testing her restraint.

Tetsu groaned as he opened one eye as the other was swollen shut, "It was some Kyokue students, they were green uniforms. Kyo-san already knows and had gone to track them down." It was a short explanation that took as little of his strength he had but he knew she would understand. He trusted her, even with her calm and apparently uncaring demeanor he could see the flames of war behind those stoic silver eyes.

"I see, get some rest, we'll leave this to Kyoya… for now." Ren said before moving off to check on Royhei, she found him still asleep with Kyoko a sleep on the side of his bed. She shivered with cold, she was still in the uniform she wore yesterday which means she never left the hospital last night. Slipping off her Hunter green coat she draped it over Kyoko's shoulders, placing her disciplinary arm band on her charcoal colored shirt. Adjusting her weapon holder over her black skinny jeans she went to hunt down a doctor to get the update on both Tetsu and Royhei. It took her till past lunch to track down a barley competent nurse to get the right doctor and by that time she was severely annoyed, that foreboding feeling she had had never gone away. When Tsuna, Reborn and Hayato found her she was giving another incompetent nurse a rather harsh dressing down curtsey of her overly sharp tongue.

"Ren, are you ok?" Tsuna asked and flinched with a girly 'Hiee' when she turned her harsh gaze onto him.

"I'm fine, just trying to finally get a real update on their conditions."

"Do you think he can handle it, Hibari-san I mean, these people are really strong." Hayato asked.

"Of course he can, he's not an opponent to take down easily." That seemed to relieve them of some of their fears, so she told them of the rest of what she knew and that seemed to lessen even more of their worries.

"Hey, Tsuna why don't you go check on Royhei and Kyoko." Reborn said and jumped from Tsuna's shoulder to the counter that Ren was standing next to, Tsuna seemed confused with the sudden suggestion but followed the order anyways with Hayato following behind him. "So it seems your theory was right, I received a letter from the ninth saying to defeat these guys and rescue there hostage."

"Hostage?" Ren asked there had been no indication of a hostage.

"Ya, these guys seemed to be stronger than we thought. How sure are you that Kyoya will be okay?"

"Of cour-" right in the middle of her denial a sharp pain snapped in her mind and she staggered dizzy for a moment placing a hand on the wall to balance herself. "Kyoya..." She whispered, she didn't know how or why but that bad feeling had grown worse and she just knew something was about to happen. Almost tunnel minded she ran from the hospital toward were Tetsu had said he was heading, leaving Reborn with both his answers to his questions one he asked and one he didn't.


	7. Chapter 7

Ren bent over panting as she stood in front of the run down building of Koukue Land, she had found several bodies severely beaten that left her no doubt Kyoya was here. Stealing herself she entered the building, she found many more bodies her nerves screamed at her that this wasn't right, that even if Kyoya took out a bunch of their people there should at least be someone still guarding the entrances. Her guard up and holding her collapsed staff she crept as silently as she could toward were she suspected her prey to be waiting. Stopping abruptly she listened at the voices coming threw the slightly open door. It would be barley big enough for her to squeeze through unnoticed, checking around the corner, she was forced to hold back her gasp of surprise. Kyoya was severely wounded, bleeding from several wounds and she was sure he had several broken bones, but the really surprising thing was the fact he was kneeling on the ground unmoving surrounded by Sakura trees which she knew had to be illusions.

"Oiya, you can't move can you, not when you're infected with Shamel's Sakura –kura witch makes you immobile when your around Sakura." A man with two different colored eyes said one red the other cobalt blue, there was something about him Ren immediately disliked, besides the fact he was responsible for Kyoya's state and the states of her family and subordinates. But what did that pervy doctor Shamel's disease have to do with this? It- it couldn't have been when he tried to hit on me the other day and Kyoya beat him up, that was the only chance he had to infect Kyoya.

The bi-colored eyed boy grabbed a handful of Kyoya's hair and pulled him up by it, even unable to move Kyoya still had a defiant look in his eyes that said next time he would bite this person to death. "Oiya, you seem to think if it wasn't for the sickness you could beat me. Let me tell you that I have met many men strong like you and have sent many to a place like hell. But I think it is time to finish this."

Kyoya was annoyed, pissed at this man but also strangely calm, he felt like there was someone he trusted there with him. He didn't make a sound as he was yanked up by his hair again and his body protested the movement greatly, he watched as his enemy poised his strange staff for a finale attack. When out of nowhere and without a sound a black staff landed in front of him its silver blued blade buried in to the ground. It was thrown with its aim at Mukuro's hand that it cut a few of his black hairs as Mukuro released it to avoided the attack, but a thin line of blood dripped down his hand where it had grazed still. Kyoya only knew of one person that could have done that with such a narrow room for mistake, and he smirked slyly.

"Oiya! What's this?"

"Don't. Touch him." The voice was icy cold filled with a calm rage, that Kyoya had learned was more dangerous from her than a violent one. Ren stood in front of Kyoya sparing him the briefest of glances with those narrowed flaming cold silver eyes, that he knew didn't miss much.

"Oiya, if it isn't the Queen of Namimorie, I wasn't expecting to face you so soon, but this works even better." He said, "I was surprised when I found out that the number one spot for strongest in Namimorie was shared by two people, and on top of that one being a female."

Without a response Ren gripped her staff and pulled it from its embedded spot in the floor, she knew immediately that this was a man she needed to take seriously and he didn't play fair.

"Kufufufu, it's like a feline protecting her mate. Tell me, why do you fight to protect that town and school?" Ren didn't show any sigh that what he said bothered her when inside she felt herself flush embarrassed.

"hn, that's easy, because if it wasn't for this town and school then I wouldn't have met such interesting people and every day would be colored in boring shades of grey."

"Fine, if you're so eager to fight then let's see who the better staff wielder is." He twirled his expertly and rushed toward her, hooking her end around his she pushed him back, then charged forward with her own quick attack, grazing his cheek with the blade on the end. "Oiya, that's the second time you've hurt me, you are defiantly strong. No, wonder those men with your father never stood a chance."

Kyoya watched from his spot on the ground, and saw the sliver of confusion and fear in those silver eyes distracting her for the briefest of moments, and her opponent took that moment. With a cry she took a knee to her ribs, she felt the telltale crack of the bone before she impacted with the wall were Mukuro took the time she used to get to her feet to attack again. She tried to guard with her staff but didn't have enough time and took his roundhouse kick to her left forearm and was flung to the ground again rolling with the power from the attack and impact several times. When she pushed herself to her feet her left arm was protesting in taking any weight and she was suspecting another break. She glared at her attacker balancing on all four of her limbs as he charged again and like a cat she used her limbs to propel her up and to the side rolling up to her knees then to her feet with her landing. Having her feet she faced him and spat out the blood that was filling her mouth before she launched herself at him.

They exchanged several blows Ren blocking most of them but it was becoming increasingly harder to do as her arm refused to take weight, and seeing that Mukuro put a lot of power behind his blows she feared it wouldn't hold much longer. She sliced into his side and he returned with another blow to her already hurt ribs, she blocked it but her arm chose to give out at that moment and didn't succeed in stopping it entirely. From there he backed her against the wall staff locked with staff his pushing hers against her wind pipe.

"Kufufufu, you are a skilled fighter, but without your other arm working at full capacity you can't guard properly, at this point having a weapon would be more trouble than it's worth." Mukuro said with a smile that said he was sure this was over and she would give up easily, her concentration wasn't at full capacity because of what he said earlier. But was surprised instead of giving in, she spit out a mouthful of blood before smiling like she knew she would win.

"Your right at this point using a staff would be more trouble than it's worth, I guess I'll haft to drop it for a different weapon." With that Ren's good arm slid down to the end of her staff.

"Kufufufu, what are you- his words were cut off by a hiss of pain, and he jumped back, where Ren had once been holding a staff there was now a four part poll. When she had disconnected it the blade wrapped around and cut into his shoulder. Kyoya watched surprised at the look in Ren's face a confident and condescending smirk on her face a ferocious gleam in her eye, he felt a shiver go threw him along with a feeling of excitement that he wasn't familiar with. But he watched her with predatory eyes as she wielded her new weapon like a whip her left arm laying limply by her side, and since this was a mid-range type weapon Mukuro had no chance at attacking her.

Annoyance was written all over Mukuro's face as he faced this new weapon, she wasn't as skilled or familiar with using this weapon but she was good enough to be posing a serious problem. He saw a slight chance to disarm her but it was risky it would expose him completely at worst or disarm him in the least if it failed, but he took the chance. Thrusting his weapon forward he was glad to see it work as her weapon wrapped around his staff, with a yank he tried pulling the weapon from her hands but to his complete surprise she jumped with his pull giving her extra momentum. When she reached him she twisted in midair taking the heel of her boot with the side of his face, but by doing this she gave up her distance advantage. Struggling to unlock there weapons it took them closer to the wall and he slammed her up against it with enough force it made her ribs burn with pain as they shifted.

Ren inhaled with the pain and choked as she coughed up a good portion of blood, but she wasn't ready to give in yet. She kicked at his legs and tried to dislodge there weapons, this seemed to annoy him greatly to her pleasure as he moved away from her, but she froze with his next words.

"You don't remember what happened that day do you, the day your father was murdered." Kyoya looked at Mukuro then back at Ren and recognized that same fear and pain that she showed up on the roof. "Do you want to know what happened that day, do you want to know why the police found you covered in blood, and everybody but you dead. Including your father." Kyoya watched as Ren's grip tightened around the weapon now in staff from, and to his surprise they began to shake.

"I could show you what happened give you the peace you've been denied." He walked slowly toward her but she didn't move, body frozen and eyes wide of fear of what she feared to remember. "All those sleepless nights gone, finally having the peace of those memories." He was right in front of her now but she was still frozen in place. A part of her mind that hadn't been paralyzed yelled at her to move to fight back, but the fear at those missing memories held her still and more so the need to know what really happened. But she knew she had to move, as she finally came back to herself it was too late, as she moved to attack he trapped her effectively pinning her. "I'll show and then you will finally know what you did." He said in her ear before grasping her chin and forcing a kiss on her.

Kyoya tried to get to his feet but he couldn't move, something stirred in him when he saw that the surprise at the forced kiss turn into complete terror in her eyes. It was anger and a sense of obsession but as much as he hated to admit it he was paralyzed, helpless. He watched as her shaking hands lost their grip on her weapon and it clattered to the floor, a second later her eyes closed as Mukuro released her from his kiss, she fell to the floor unconscious. Mukuro dragged her by the arm to the side of his couch were he chained her to the wall with a pair of shackles. "What did you do to her?" Kyoya demanded, his eyes burning with anger.

"Kufufufu, I just gave her a sweet dream." He replied, and to counteract those words a desperate fearful and pain filled cry filled the room.

"NO!" Ren cried still under the thralls of Mukuro's dream, thrashing and yanking at her bonds as the metal bit mercilessly into her wrist drawing blood.


	8. Chapter 8

Kyoko found Tsuna and the others in the hall, "Neh, Tsuna-san, were is Ren-chan?"

"Umm, I'm not sure I haven't seen her since yesterday, why?"

"She lent me her coat while I was sleeping, I wanted to give it back to her." Kyoko held up the dark green coat.

"She went after Hibari-san after you left her. I think something has happened since neither of them have come back yet." Reborn said coming from one of his hideouts.

"She WHAT!" Tsuna yelled suddenly feeling like something bad was happening.

"You heard me. Now what are you going to do about it, most likely two of your family members are now hurt badly. And there's this letter from the Ninth telling you to go after this enemy and stop him and save the hostages."

"W-what, b-but if Hibari and Alauda-san were both defeated then how am I supposed to stop him?"

"Then are you just going to leave her there and let more people get hurt as well as become a traitor to the Vongal?"

"N-no, but what can I do?"

"Tenth, you won't be going alone, I'll be there." Gokudera said.

"Me as well." Yamamoto spoke up.

"I'll be tagging along as well," Bianchi said coming up behind them with her face covered for Gokudera's sake. "I like Ren so I'll come as well." With reluctance Tsuna agreed and they set out for to rescue there friends.

Gokudera groaned as the side effects of Shamel's medicine paralyzed his body with pain, and because of it he let his guard down which allowed the animal guy to attack him directly. He stumbled trying to stay on his feet grabbing a curtain for balance only for it give away and reveal a stairway behind it, which he fell down. 'I'm pathetic right now, I can barely move. Shit, these guys are going to kick my ass in my current condition.' He looked up when one of Bird's birds began chirping nonsense, trying to get up the strength to move he started when he heard the Namimorie school anthem being sung then spotted a pair of tonfas in front of a wall. He smirked and pulled a dynamite from his shirt and tossed it at the wall.

"You're the only one that likes are school anthem that much."

"I could have gotten out myself, but this works." Kyoya said as he climbed over the rubble of the explosion. He kicked up his pair of tonfas and prepared to fight even though his body screamed with pain and protested taking any wait on it. He listened to the two opponents jeer that a half dead guy wasn't any sort of back up, well he would just need to prove them wrong, and it didn't take long.

"Oi, take this," Gokudera said pulling a pill from a prescription bag, "It's the antidote to Sakura-Kura." Though Kyoya wanted to protest he didn't need any help he recalled the helpless state he was in, in the presence of Sakura, so he took the offered pill. Gokudera grunted as he tried to get and stay on his feet, with a sigh Kyoya grabbed one of his arms and took some of his weight and together they made their way to where Tsuna and the others were.

"Why are you helping me?"

"I don't like debts."

Gokudera didn't say anything for a second before asking the question he wanted to ask since he saw the prefect alone. "Where's Ren?" Kyoya stopped and Gokudera watched as cold anger washed threw the prefect's eyes and his muscles tightened.

"That man did something to her." Kyoya felt the rage burn threw him, it was an anger that had been slowly festering since he had watched her be defeated and himself trapped in that room. While he was there he had plenty of time to think over what had happened, but he still had no idea what could make Ren totally terrified as that, and he didn't like that he didn't know. So he made his way forward to where she was being held.

When both Gokudera and Kyoya made it to where Tsuna was at they found him on the ground surrounded by poisons snakes. While a few other people were lying unconscious on the ground. "Tenth get down." Gokudera yelled as he threw dynamite at him, it worked and the snakes were destroyed.

"Gokudera and Hibari-san!" Tsuna yelled happily.

"Hn, you see Tsuna wasn't my only student Mukuro." Reborn said as he tipped his fedora.

"There I've paid you back." Kyoya said and threw away the extra weight his body had been protesting to carrying.

"H-he threw him away." Tsuna said quietly surprised that he would jut drop an injured person like that so easily, but then again Hibari was also heavily injured.

"Oiya, you're still moving even though I've already broken many of your bones. You and your Queen are quite determined, but everybody has a breaking point." Mukuro said laughingly when he saw the look on his opponents face.

"What is he talking about," Tsuna said to himself them realized that Ren wasn't with them. "Hibari-san where's Ren-san?" As if to answer his question Kyoya clenched his jaw and took out his tonfas.

"Kufufufu, everybody has a breaking point, she lasted long past my expectations but she broke eventually. I mean it would only be a matter of time considering what she kept relieving was something so horrible that she blocked it from her mind."

"You showed her past?" Reborn spoke up now with a sense of dread going threw him, this wasn't good, he had looked into her past when she had joined Tsuna's family. And with this development, there might be lasting effects even if they defeated him.

"Of course, now she is barely a threat," he made a motion and they watched as Ren walked out of the shadows, looking as bad as Hibari only worse was the fact her eyes were completely blank, filled with absolutely nothing. "Unless there's someone there to control her, then she becomes a very useful tool. Isn't that right Ren."

In answer Ren lurched forward toward Tsuna, her staff extended and ready for a fatal attack. Tsuna was frozen in shock, he couldn't do anything to stop her and even if he could he didn't want to attack her. Right before the attack hit he was shoved harshly out of the way, and where he had been was now Kyoya, who grunted as he blocked her attack with his tonfas.

"Stop this now Ren!" Gokudera yelled, and there was a shift in those vacant silver eyes.

"Ren." Kyoya spoke softly using her name in the first time in days, and he missed the feeling of it on his tongue. There was another change in her eyes and the force behind her attack lessened allowing Kyoya to push her back and place a knee in her stomach. "Are you just going to let yourself be controlled?"

Ren stumbled back several steps bent over, she coughed and blood dripped onto the ground, when she looked up there was a crimson line running down her chin. Kyoya saw the flash of pain and fear in her eyes and the hopelessness. It angered him so he ran toward her she reacted bringing her weapon up. They grappled a bit before they both ended up falling to the ground, straddling her hips and pinning her beneath him. He pressed a tonfa to her throat completely trapping her, that's when he saw it, like a panicking piece of prey she began to struggle wildly reopening wounds. It was because of that fear in her vacant eyes he got a flash of insight of what might of have happened to her, softening his gaze at her he spoke quietly.

"Ren." He said and in her name he let the promise that he wouldn't hurt her be seen and her struggling paused before starting up again but not as wildly, he was getting threw. "Come back don't let him turn you into a helpless herbivore. Fight back like the predator you are, don't let him cage you." He demanded and felt her struggling stop and her relaxing, those silver eyes began to shimmer then well up as a stream of tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Kyo…ya.." she spoke in barely a whisper as life came back to her, but it was wounded and fearful and lasted only a second as her body gave into her hurts, her eyes shut and her body went lacks.

"Oiya, you actually pulled her out of her nightmare, that was impressive, though I shouldn't be surprised. Every time I gave her a brief reprieve to see if she would join me she fought back, I had regretfully to give her more injuries." Mukuro said from where he stood. There was an almost inaudible growl, but it was there none the less. With almost no warning Kyoya attacked, taking all of the annoyance he had at himself and at Ren and throwing it at his enemy.

"You are very strong, who knows how this would of ended if you hadn't been injured." Mukuro said and like a queue, Kyoya's body locked up on him blood dripping on the floor as several of his painful wounds were reopened again. His body slouched forward as he tried to stay on his feet as his vision blurred, but he held fast to his annoyance and anger. "That's right kneel before me again, kufufufu." Kyoya fell forward, Mukuro smiled as his enemy finally fell, Kyoya took all his strength and put it into one attack swinging he caught Mukuro in the jaw and sent him flying backwards. Straightening Kyoya smirk, his enemy had been defeated, he took several steps back and felt his body fall to the ground completely unable to take being conscious anymore.

"Hiee! Hibari-san, Ren!" Tsuna yelled were the two strongest people he knew were collapsed next to each other.

"He was fighting off unconsciousness towards the end, and Ren… well her battle hasn't ended yet." Reborn said sadly as he gazed at the two downed family members.


End file.
